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TRP: Raef and Hansel (Booze Run)
Izzy: The Sugar Glider, mid-morning, after the night of TRP: Truth and vignette Drown. Mishka would be fine. He'd be fine. They'd talked about it, and he was completely fine with Hansel making a supply run to Skyport without him. Hansel wasn't entirely buying it, but he also wasn't buying his own chances of dealing with this shit without being at least some degree of not-sober. They didn't need supplies, really -- he just needed rum. Or anything. He'd even take some of that godawful wine of Mishka's at this point, and he wasn't proud of it, but if he was going to keep his shit together, then for all of their sakes -- he was heading into Skyport. The Sugar Glider's tender was tied up at the back of the ship, off the quarterdeck. He hadn't really intended on anyone coming with him, so he hadn't mentioned it to anyone but Mishka before going back to loosen the boat's ropes. He could let it the rest of the way down once he was in. Then he realized he'd dropped his bag over by the ship's wheel, and had to go back for it -- and over the railing, he spotted Raef down on the main deck, alone. Huh. Hansel wasn't sure what it was. He just looked like someone who'd had a bad fuckin' night, too. They hadn't had much to do with each other since that first mission they'd been on for Ripley, but he seemed dependable and level-headed. Good at stabbing trolls, at least. Sure. "Hey. Raef," he called. "I'm going into Skyport, kill some shit, get some booze. Interested?" Mink: When they had arrived to the fight, it had been over with and, despite however guilty he felt, Raef was glad. It had been a long few days with Goro, Griffin, and....Griffin. He could say he would come to terms with it, but it would take fucking forever from the feel of it. This day was also taking fucking forever, trapped on the damn ship without anything to drink to chase away any unwelcome thoughts. Raef scowled as he toed a bucket until it fell over. He was debating how else to act like an immature elfling when his name was called. He looked over quickly to see Hansel. That alone gave him pause. There was maybe one other time they had actually interacted with one another and that had been awhile back. The suggestion made him smile. "Fuck, you're a life saver," he said as he made his way to the quarterdeck and over to Hansel. There was never enough killing and there was never enough alcohol, which the ship was pitifully low on. "Where to first?" Izzy: Hansel grinned, half-forcing it. This would be easy. Simple. A good distraction. He was going to keep telling himself that, and it would be easier with someone else along who he'd never been married to, or whose father he'd tried to kill and eat, or who he'd accidentally adopted. Or ... was Goro? Yeah, he was the only one that didn't cover. Raef seemed pretty fucking normal, by this ship's standards. He gestured towards the tender boat and held the rope out for Raef to swing over. "I'm thinkin' we start by hitting the bars by the port. Might not end up seeing any of those fuckin' Diva zombie things, but eh -- might get lucky." Mink: Boats and their damn ropes. Raef climbed into the smaller boat just fine though it was one of the few things he didn't care for. There was a reason his leaving Alabaster meant sticking to dry land where there wasn't shit trying to drag you under water. "I could let off some steam," he agreed with a bare hint of a smile. He had tried to limit interaction with Diva and her little minions, but sometimes physical assertion was the cure to what ails you. ...or laughter. After the last few nights, killing seemed the proper course of action. Izzy: Once they were both safely in, Hansel winched the tender down into the water, absently responding, "Yeah, couldn't we fuckin' all." Then they were free of the Sugar Glider, and as he readied the oars, he had the sudden thought: Raef might intend to have a conversation. Maybe he'd only assumed this would be easy because there just hadn't really been any opportunities for them to talk, so far. Well, it was too late now. He'd made his bed. He started rowing. Mink: Raef could have balked when Hansel took the oars, but half-orcs were definitely stronger than he was. He settled into the rowboat, doing what he could to not tip the damn thing over. The last thing he needed was to take a swim. He both watched the half-orc and watched the approaching land; Hansel seemed more than adept on the water. "How long have you been on ships?" Izzy: "Hm." That was fine. He could talk about that. Had to think about it for a moment, though. "'Bout twenty years now?" Fuck, he was old. Well, couldn't very well that that to an elf. He still had no idea how to figure how old they were from looking. But he did eye Raef with a little amusement. He didn't seem entirely comfortable on the tender. "Not so much into'em, yourself, I'm guessing?" Mink: "Most of your life then?" Raef gave a half smile, a teasing smile before he snorted at the question directed his way. "What gave it away?" Probably everything. Boats were nearly as bad as elves. "There's shit in the water and I'd rather not die that way." Izzy: "More than half of it," he confirmed. Eh, he was decently sure that Raef was seeing that half-orc kid whose name he hadn't quite caught. He knew how half-orcs worked. Then the second part made him wince a bit. "Yeah, you and me fuckin' both, buddy." Raef had no goddamn idea. Mink: Hansel's confirmation wasn't surprising; he looked older and he acted older. He noticed the wince, but he wasn't going to pursue it; he didn't want to know if there were monsters in the water and it looked like Hansel knew from first-hand experience. But if he had been on the water so long, he would. "Why'd you hop from the water to working for Ripley?" he asked as the question slid into his mind. Hansel looked like he had most of his shit together and working with, or for, Ripley didn't seem to fit the bill. Izzy: "Eh. Fuckin' ships. Just got tired of it." It was a practiced lie. And not a remotely complicated one. Still one Jonn had had to help him with -- crafting and rehearsing. In retrospect, just shrugging would have had the same effect on most people, but the kid had been trying to help. "Wasn't Ripley, really, anyway," he added, for something to say. "I was already working as a bouncer at the inn where my kid and I lived. Had to throw her out one night and she offered me a job." He guessed it'd be a funnier story if he told it better. Thinking about Ripley didn't exactly fill him with goddamn mirth at this point, though. "You?" Mink: Raef couldn't remember if he had heard if Hansel had a kid or not; it seemed something important to now, but the half-orc was also more closed-lipped than others he had run across. "Sounds like Ripley," he said, chuckling before he shrugged. "She tracked me down to a bar and bet me in a drinking game..." and he lost. "So here I am." Izzy: Hansel paused. Hang the fuck on. Was that why Raef had seemed vaguely familiar when they'd first met? He hadn't said anything then, but -- the night he'd tossed Ripley out, he remembered carrying a blacked-out, dark-haired elf up to a room for the night, too. "Did that happen at the Grumpy Sausage?" Mink: Raef's eyes narrowed. "Yeah..." he answered slowly. "That where you worked?" Izzy: "Yup." He'd mostly retained the Ripley part of that night, but he remembered Raef well enough. He'd been fucking out of it that night. Really couldn't hold his liquor, apparently. "Y'know, I thought I recognized you. Wasn't sure, though. Didn't figure you would've been, uh. Conscious enough to remember me anyway." Mink: This was embarrassing. How the hell had he missed being carried up by someone like - like Hansel? "You'd be right," he agreed with a smile. "Can't remember anything after agreeing to the bet." It was almost a shame. "I didn't puke on you, did I?" He had fucking puked on Roddy and that was also embarrassing...he probably should cut back on his alcohol...after this day. Izzy: "Hm." Raef had definitely puked on him. "Nah, don't think so. Wouldn't've been a remarkable night for me then if you had, though. Hey." He nodded to the rope coiled up in the front of the boat -- they were about to reach the dock. Good time to change the subject. "That should already be knotted into a lariat. Grab it and get ready to toss it onto the mooring, all right?" Mink: Raef was certain Hansel was a liar, which would make for three people in his life who were aware he had no ability to hold his alcohol. He carefully reached for the coiled rope, doing what he could to not dump them, and he waited until they were close enough before tossing the loop where it was supposed to go. When the tender pulled in close enough, he stepped out quickly, glad to be back onto something more solid. "Do you want to get the booze illegally or legally?" Izzy: Smoke hung over the city. Hansel'd been able to see it from the ship, sure, but now that they were up close, and it was accompanied by the sight of boarded up windows and barricaded doors and barren streets, the entire thing seemed a bit more dire. Seemed like more of a 'looting' situation. He hopped out of the boat. "Well, I wasn't plannin' on legally." But he offered Raef a raised eyebrow, giving him the chance to object. Pirate habits died hard. He didn't know where Raef was coming from. Mink: "It's not fun anyway." Raef waved away the raised eyebrow as he took in the state of the city, which may have been more troubling if this had been home. Still...it was almost depressing to see. This area had likely thrived before Diva and everything else that had happened. "Lead the way." Izzy: Oh, good. He'd made a good choice in picking his company today. For a moment there he'd considered bringing Roddy, to help make up with him over the whole rapier thing, but then he would have had to try to set a good example, and he wasn't feeling like being a good example. He'd be a good example tomorrow. Hansel pulled his trident off his back -- just in case -- and nodded down the street before setting off. Some of these places had clearly already been picked over, but he'd been guessing the port was far enough from the city center that there'd still be something good. Or something bad. He wasn't bothered either way. Then his ears pricked, and he stopped. Something shuffling. He glanced back at Raef and held up a finger, pointing in the direction he thought it was coming from -- down a little alley between an inn and a bar. Diva's eyes. Booze was the priority, but he was entirely happy take out a few out while they were here. Mink: When Hansel stopped, Raef stopped. He didn't draw out any weapons, but he had them nicely situated within hand's reach. He followed the direction Hansel was pointing. If it was one of Diva's minions, cool. If it wasn't...oh well. He thumbed the hilt of one of his daggers as he stepped around Hansel, staying out of the view of the opening of the alley, and moved to rest against the wall of the inn. If he had his rope, he would have been tempted to scale it, but he didn't. He glanced towards Hansel and winked before he leaned over slowly to look down the alley. Once he had caught a decent glimpse, he straightened. Either what he saw was considered lucky, or it wasn't. He held up two fingers to indicate how many he saw. They hadn't looked to be paying much attention, but he could never tell. He started to ask Hansel if he had a plan in thieves cant before it dawned on him Hansel probably didn't know the signs...which made things more complicated. Raef arched an eyebrow at Hansel; he didn't know how the half-orc fought. Was he a "rush in" kind of guy or did he prefer to wait? Izzy: Hansel chewed his lip for a second. Two of Diva's puppets, two of them. The things didn't seem particularly dangerous, anyway. Not a problem. And Raef was -- well -- less armored than he was, put it that way -- and seemed to be waiting for a signal or something. He probably knew that fucking hand-sign language Jonn had tried to teach Hansel and was waiting for some fancy, unnecessary thief shit like that. Hansel had a simpler method. Leaving his shield on his back, he spun around the corner into the alley. Two, just like Raef had indicated. He hooked the barb of his trident around one to jerk it around -- yep, clouded black eyes, ragged skin -- one of the zombie puppets. No guilt to be found in killing something that was already dead. He jabbed the trident deep into its throat and heaved it up off its feet as it gurgled, bashing this one into one wall and moving aside to leave the other one open for Raef to take care of. Mink: Raef's eyes widened in surprise as Hansel took off into the alley. There was no sign, at all, of any sort of preparation. Fucking half-orcs. Maybe it was fucking pirates -- it was fucking something. He sighed, but he stepped into the alley as Hansel used his trident to pull one of the puppets around. How Hansel moved was impressive and he made a note to ask him along on any sort of 'mission' he had later on. Unlike Hansel, Raef took his time as he neared the second puppet. Part of it was to avoid being hit by Hansel, but part of it was because he sized up the other. He didn't get to 321 by rushing into fights. He stuck close to the opposite wall, crouched low within the shadows as he drew out a dagger. He waited until the attention of the second was fully on the half-orc and the first dying minion before he stood up and tapped it on the shoulder. When it spun around, he drove the tip of the dagger through one of the blackened eyes and slapped his hand down onto the hilt to drive through the minion's eye socket and into the brain behind it. Raef yanked out the dagger as the body spasmed and dropped. "Easy." He took a step back to avoid the pooling blood, reaching into his pack to draw out a cloth to clean the blood off of his weapon. Izzy: Hansel glanced down at the puppet Raef had dispatched. Effective. Couldn't fault it. He smashed his into the wall again, and it stopped making noise as something in its neck severed. Different styles, that was all. He let it drop and planted a boot on it to yank his trident out. For a moment there the black eyes, and the body on the ground, and the trident jabbed into it -- But then the blackness faded and it was just another corpse, and he wasn't bothered by corpses. He made himself focus on the present instead, finding himself a little entertained by Raef cleaning off his knife immediately after the skirmish. He was fairly sure there was still blood on his old trident from the first ship he'd ever been on. "Easy," he agreed. Suddenly this seemed like it might be more fun than just getting drunk back on the ship, but -- Mishka was waiting. He'd said he wouldn't be gone long. So he tilted his head back out of the alleyway, grinning as he turned to carry on. "Hopefully we see some more on the way." Mink: "Wouldn't that be grand," Raef answered with a smile as he tucked the clean blade away and folded the cloth up with the blood on the inside which was then put into his pack. He wasn't squeamish about blood, but he didn't want it getting onto every item he owned. He followed Hansel out of the alley, doing a cursory glance around them, but he didn't see anything. Good, because the bar was right there and he could easily go for a drink. Killing was thirsty work. The boarded up bar was empty, but the stale scents hanging in the air made Raef's nose wrinkle once they had broken in. "Hopefully they have something good." If they still had anything. "What's your drink of choice?" Izzy: "I'll take anything at this fuckin' point," Hansel admitted before thinking better of it. Eh. He refused to be judged by a man who'd thrown up on him. He crossed the room, slipping his trident back onto his back -- hand dropping to an axe automatically -- and ducking behind the bar. Plenty of partially-full bottles. Better than empties. And there was some of Mishka's goddamn wine, here, too. God, that shit was awful, but he guessed he'd take some back for him. He shrugged his bag onto the bar itself, ready to be packed up, and started transferring all of the bottles up onto the counter for Raef to look over. "Preferences?" Without commenting on it, he put the Red Blade wine into the bag before anything else. Mink: Raef took a more direct approach to the liquor: he slid himself across the bar to land on the ground. "Anything but that crap," he said with a smile as he gestured to the wine that Hansel put into his bag. He eyed the bottles lined up still. He wasn't picky, but he knew Griffin had liked what Roddy had given him before. He popped open a bottle of ale and took a swig as he looked around; he might as well enjoy something while out here. When he found the bottle he was looking for, a soft smile crossed his face. He dropped it into his bag and it was shortly followed by a couple of bottles of rum and tequila. It could awhile before they managed to get back into Skyport and no one enjoyed a dry ship. He swallowed more of his ale and grabbed another bottle for the road, carrying this one in is other hand. By the time they were to the door, one of his hands would be free. "Did you really kill your crew?" he asked as he rummaged through a lower cabinet. Maybe he could fit a smaller bottle into his bag. Izzy: Hansel smiled a bit at their shared judgement of the wine. "Eh, fuckin' Mishka likes it," he said offhandedly. It was surreal that he could say shit like that again. Present tense. It kept him smiling as he packed everything he could into his bag -- the fuller bottles got priority. He didn't really give a shit what it was, as long as it was alcoholic. It was a good haul. This had been a good idea. No trouble -- some fun -- not a terrible conversation. The longer he was away from the ship the more antsy he knew he was going to get (once he got back to Mishka he'd feel better, but also, once he got back to the ship he'd be able to start drinking), but Raef was digging through cabinets, still, and he felt no urgent need to hurry him up. This was fine. It was a good day. Then without even looking up, Raef asked him if he'd really killed his crew, and Hansel froze. He said it like it was nothing. Casual conversation. Fuckin' elves. There was something wrong with all of them. Goro was only half one, and it applied to him too. Goddammit. "What the fuck, man?" He was at a loss for what else to say. How did Raef even know anything about this shit? Mink: Raef popped a small bottle into his bag and straightened up to rest back against the counter, watching Hansel. "If you did, you did. If not..." He shrugged, turning his open bottle in his fingers before he finished it off. The next one was opened. He couldn't blame Hansel's reaction; it wasn't a usual topic and it had sounded sensitive in the first place. "so...did you?" Izzy: "It's none of your fuckin' business." He tried to figure out what Raef knew, who he'd heard it from. He and Larkin were both thiefy types, but -- she didn't strike him as a snitch, even if she wasn't his biggest fan. Surely Mishka wasn't still doing this shit. Besides, Hansel had barely been apart from him until now; he hadn't had the time and space to say anything. Goro? What the fuck. Maybe. He really had no fuckin' clue about Goro anymore. Then he realized that anything other than no just sounded incriminating. He scowled. And in fairness -- Raef was his crew now. It probably kind of was his business. Hansel didn't have to fucking be happy about it. "They all died." I didn't kill all of them. "There's ... shit out in the ocean." Not actually what got them, though. He paused, and sighed. Fuck. This wasn't going to stay under wraps much longer, was it? Raef didn't seem to be that fucking bothered about it anyway. "Fuck you. Yeah," he muttered. Mink: It wasn't any of his business, not really, but Raef had done well the last few years of his life learning everything he could about everyone he could; it kept him alive. But Hansel was an enigma: someone he had never approached before and didn't know how to approach. The half-orc was quiet unless he was lecturing or helping someone; maybe it was that silence that prompted the question, or maybe...The elf didn't know. He had heard the whispers, the rumors, and they had piqued his curiosity. "Okay then." He smiled faintly, but not in amusement. He took a swallow of his opened drink, eyes flickering away as he weighed what could and could not be said next. "Everyone has shit in their past." He stood up fully and brushed out his clothing, shifting his bag to be more comfortable. "Before you saw me get shitfaced, I had skinned an orc and left him to hang." He grabbed up his bottle, having put it down to rearrange his clothing. "He was still alive when I left to get cleaned up." Izzy: He said that pretty nonchalantly. Hansel wanted to tell him it wasn't really the same thing -- skinning some orc and butchering an entire crew who he'd spent almost all of the previous decade of his life with. But it seemed like he was trying to relate, or something. And he really wasn't ... reacting to the news at all. That was kind of refreshing, and Hansel had no idea what to do with it. "Huh." He crossed his arms. "What'd the orc do?" He realized this left him open to the question what did your crew do, but he was hoping Raef wouldn't follow up on that. Mink: The question gave Raef pause because his answer could be very simple or it could be in-depth, or it could be neither...or both. "He wouldn't answer my question," he finally send, shrugging. "He knew information on the orc who ordered the murder of my husband." Goro already knew about Az, Griffin already knew, but it also wasn't like it was a secret. Besides that, Hansel was a fucking adult who was married. Raef took another sip. "Anyway, that wasn't the point." He sighed softly. "The point was was that...you do what you have to..." He took another drink. Damn, he was already almost finished with the second one. "...and whether or not you enjoy it." He enjoyed it, but Hansel didn't need to know that tidbit. October 18, 2018 Izzy: Oh. Maybe Hansel was wrong about that half-orc kid. Maybe he was just a friend of Nixie's. Or maybe the husband thing had happened a while back, and Raef was just a bit better at fucking moving on than he had been after Mishka. He really needed to keep better track of these things. He wasn't entirely sure what Raef was getting at. It was probably supposed to be comforting, or something, and he didn't hate the intention, but he didn't know what the fuck to do with it, either. The situation was complicated. He kept saying that, but he was beginning to suspect he was the only one making things complicated. "Yeah, well." He pushed away from the bar. "Sorry to hear about your husband. You need a hand with that, once this shit's over --" he waved in the general direction of everything -- "let me know. You ready to get the fuck out of here?" Mink: "As ready as I can be." Getting back to the ship was the last thing that Raef wanted, but Griffin was there and despite all of the shit that had gone down and everything he had learned, he was excited to get back to the young half-orc. He finished off his ale and dropped the bottle onto the table. He passed up taking another one, not really wanting to do something that warranted getting wet or getting seasick. He situated his pack again, the item heavier than he had wanted it to be, but he would live and the ship was a short trip away, and luckily it was mostly uneventful. He settled down into the rowboat without toppling them over, looking towards Skyport as they drew away from it, tapping the edge of the boat with a finger tip. The trip had been all around easy, and telling in its own way. There was more going on with Hansel than he could have easily imagined and he nearly smiled at the thought; the half-orc was a tough one, but....that smile at the wine.... "I'm sorry about Mishka," he said. "But I'm glad you got him back." Izzy: Weird fucking day. Hansel was more than ready to get back to the ship and get drunk. Not all bad, though, he supposed. Could've gone much worse, judging by the way Raef had jammed a knife into that puppet's eye -- if he'd been less apparently jaded about potential massacres. Fuckin' elves. Who knew. Raef wasn't the worst of them, at least. If he had to make another supply run he'd know who to talk to. Well, assuming he could lure Raef back onto the tender boat, anyway -- he shouldn't've said that thing about there being shit out in the ocean. "Yeah," he responded, a bit distracted. It was -- complicated. But it was better than it had been. "Me too." Category:Text Roleplay